How to Become a Professional Bettor

Many people have read the stories of punters winning a fortune at sports betting, with some dreaming of giving up their day jobs and becoming a professional gambler. But, the risk involved is extremely high and the chances are that a large percentage of these people would go bust in a relatively short time.

However, there is a way of turning yourself from a casual gambler into a professional bettor. But, the first thing that needs to be done is refocusing your mindset and thinking like a professional. Instead of aiming for that one big win on a Saturday afternoon football accumulator, you have to think long-term profit and aim to make the most of your bankroll.

How to Become a Professional Sports Bettor

As mentioned above, the first thing you must do is change the way you approach sports betting. To do this, you must:

1) Set yourself a bankroll and Stick to it

It’s relatively obvious that you need money to gamble in the first place, but we are talking setting yourself an actual bankroll and managing it as to make the most from it. Work out your weekly or monthly incomings and outgoings, on things such as bills, rent, food etc. and then work out how much you can afford to gamble with.

Once you have done this you can then split it into points. Take your overall total bankroll, divide it by 100, and you have a monetary value for each point.

Then, you place bets using the points system instead of thinking of it as money.

The main thing here is to stick to the bankroll you have given yourself. If you find that the amount you have allocated for 28 days has been exhausted in less than that time, you stay away from gambling until the 29th day when your bankroll has been refilled. Do not spend more than you’ve allocated because otherwise you will end up chasing lost money and it creates a spiral which may lead to further problems down the line.

2) Remain disciplined

In order to have a professional mindset you must remove emotion, maintain discipline and control your bankroll as a business would control its budget.

Stick to your points betting system and do not be tempted to raise your stakes if the previous couple of bets lost. Professional bettors realise that not every bet can be a winner and by maintaining discipline they will ensure their bankroll lasts longer and the chances of turning over a profit increase. You cannot make a profit if you exhaust your funds chasing lost money.

Take a loss as an experience and move on to the next bet in a controlled manner, using analytical thinking. Do not allow emotions to get the better of you, angrily placing bets on sports you no little or nothing about and never waste money betting on your favourite team.

3) Keep a betting record

The best way to see where you are going right and wrong is by keeping a written betting record. This also helps to focus your mind and realise you are functioning as a business.

Set up a spreadsheet, detailing the bet you had, date, stake, wins/losses, profit made, etc. This will help you to see any emerging betting patterns, certain bets that always win or always lose, and will improve your chances of making a profit by making you a better gambler.

4) Take an analytical approach

Analytical thinking has been mentioned in other articles but is key to success when sports betting. Always pay attention to statistics and any other detail, however minor, which will improve your chances of winning.

Study, research, make notes and stick to a formula. If there is a reason you are not 100% confident in a betting selection, do not place the bet. Calculate the risk and reward, thinking only of profit. Remember, professional bettors aren’t betting just for the sake of it, they do so with the aim of making a profit.

5) Any profit is still a profit

To have a professional mindset you have to realise that any profit, however small, is still a profit. More importantly, any profit is not a loss.

If you make £1 on every bet placed and you place 50 bets a week, that’s an overall profit of £50. You’ve avoided spending your entire bankroll chasing the big win and have given yourself a profit. Keeping records of wins/losses will help focus your mind more into this way of thinking.

Think long-term. If you make £50 profit on 50 bets, that’s £500 profit after 500 bets. Avoiding losses and keeping the wins coming will improve your chances of making it as a professional sports bettor.

Become a Professional Sports Bettor

Once you have refocused your mindset, adopted a new approach to sports betting, and started to see gambling as a business instead of a pastime, you will be one step closer to becoming a professional bettor.

But, this is just one step on the road to success. The real key is longevity, maintaining that focus and mindset through periods of loss and bad luck. There will be days when last minute goals, surprise results, red hot favourites falling at the last fence, or a freak injury to a tennis player can turn what you felt was certain profit into loss.

The casual gambler will rue their bad luck, possibly allow emotions to play a part in the next bet they place, and can go on what some people call “tilt” or a slide towards becoming broke.

A professional will dust themselves off, realise that these things happen regardless of how analytical their approach, and remember that not every bet will win.

It is maintaining focus, looking at the long-term, and keeping the right mindset which differentiates between a casual gambler and a professional sports bettor.